For more than 100 years, the Depot Barbershop has kept Kent clean shaven and looking good. But after years of searching for someone to pick up the mantle, current owner Fred Shamseldin has closed the shop as he prepares to move across the country to begin his retirement.
“I’ve been trying very hard,” he said. “Good barbershops are hard to find.”
But at 68, Shamseldin said it was time to move on.
“I can’t wait around anymore,” he said. “I’m Texas-bound.”
Shamseldin, a genial fellow with a broad smile and easily recognizable by his shaved head, said he had to close the shop and leave the area to be with his wife, Barbara, who has sinus problems and can no longer stay in the damp Pacific Northwest environment.
“I’ve been trying to get out of the barbershop to be with her,” he said.
But leaving the barbershop he called home for the past 29 years was not a decision Shamseldin made lightly. He says goodbye not only to his shop, but the people who made it special and says he will most miss the “camaraderie” of the shop.
“Loving a barbershop is loving your clientele and getting to know them,” he said. “My customers, honest to God, are my friends.”
Shamseldin grew up in Kent and even had his own hair cut at the Depot from time to time. After a 20-year career in the Washington Army National Guard, he was ready for a change.
“I chose barbering because I knew nobody would come in that barbershop that I didn’t want to see,” he said, adding “If I knew I was going to love barbering I wouldn’t have done the military.”
Soon after Shamseldin began working with prior owner Jim Robards, he offered to sell Shamseldin the shop and the business.
“And I’ve been there ever since,” he said, adding with a wry smile “I love being in a business where you’re working with a renewable resource.”
When he first took over, Shamseldin said he tried to be “everything to everyone,” including doing women’s coifs, but soon realized his shop was probably better off focusing on men’s haircuts and creating the kind of “old fashioned” barbershop that could provide what men want, “a really good haircut and to relax,” according to Shamseldin.
“I found my niche was that,” he said.
Shamseldin said though he never cut hair in the National Guard, his trademark skill was providing the haircuts most military men would find familiar.
“I’m one of the best flat-toppers in the area,” he said, adding that the secret is paying attention to the direction and texture of the hair instead of just treating every head the same way. “Every head is completely individual for a flat top.”
But it is the customers whom Shamseldin will miss most. And the key to knowing them, he added, is being genuine.
“The customer knows a fake,” he said. “If you have a bad attitude, customers pick up on it.
“You can tell a bad vibe,” he added. “You have to be generally friendly or else you are not going to succeed.”
But while he was always working to change the looks of his customers, what Shamseldin did not expect was to find that the shop changed him, forcing him to come out of his shell and be more gregarious.
“When I got into the barbering business I was very shy,” he said. “But the barbershop changed me. It’s all about comfort zone.”
It was just a good old-fashioned barber shop,” said Noel Wells, who worked side by side with Shamseldin for the past five years. “The last of the breed.”
Wells, who now works at the new Barber Edge Salon on 240th, said the shop made a trim more than just a haircut.
“It was kind of a social gathering,” he said.
Wells said he and Shamseldin were able to cultivate personal relationships with their clients, whom Shamseldin is encouraging to check out Wells’ new shop.
“The barber is like a psychiatrist,” he said, calling the Depot “an institution.”
“We had some good times,” Shamseldin said, adding “Time’s sure flying fast.”
The shop sits empty now. The western-themed decor has come off the walls, the old barber pole that stood out front has been moved to Wells’ new location and two of the three chairs has been sold.
But Shamseldin said he is keeping the third chair and plans to set it up when he gets to Texas, maybe even giving a few cuts out of his home.
“Just because I like doing it,” he said. “Actually, let me rephrase that: I love doing it.”
As he heads southeast, Shamseldin said he only had one other to say, something he wanted to make sure his customers heard.
“Thank you,” he said of his time at Depot. “Kent and I have had a love affair.”
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